Zimbabwe's Mugabe says progress made in talks

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe said on Thursday power-sharing talks with the opposition MDC were going well, but dismissed media reports about a draft agreement as nonsense.

"All that which is being reported is utter nonsense," Mugabe said, in an apparent reference to media speculation that there was a draft agreement for government between his ZANU-PF party and the Movement for Democratic Change.

"The talks are going on very well and the people of Zimbabwe shall be informed in due course," he said in a statement issued through his spokesman.

Johannesburg's The Star newspaper reported that under a draft settlement, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai would run the country as executive prime minister for a transitional period, with one deputy from each party, while Mugabe would become ceremonial president.

The Star said the MDC wants a 24-30 month transitional period, while ZANU-PF wants a five-year transition.

Mugabe denied in the statement that he will meet Tsvangirai.

Zimbabwean media had said earlier that the two were expected to hold their first meeting since agreeing to the talks last month, and that South African President Thabo Mbeki, chief mediator in the talks, was due in Harare.

The two sides began talking over two weeks ago to defuse a crisis caused by the re-election of Mugabe in a poll boycotted by the opposition and widely condemned internationally.

SECURITY CHIEFS KEY

Zimbabwean political analyst Eldred Masunungure said the fact that the teams were still at the table suggested the negotiations were on course.

"I think we are only going to get a meeting of the principal leaders either to clear hurdles over any serious disagreements or to seal an agreement," Masunungure said.

The Star said South African mediators had met Zimbabwean security chiefs, seen as key to any resolution to the crisis which has ruined the once prosperous economy and flooded neighboring states with millions of refugees.

The newspaper, citing unnamed sources, said the officials "wanted to ensure that their interests are catered for in any agreement reached".

The powerful security officials are unlikely to accept any power-sharing deal unless they are given protection from international justice, analysts say.

Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF and the MDC, under heavy international pressure to resolve the crisis, called on their supporters on Wednesday to end political violence, the clearest sign of progress in the talks to date.

(Additional reporting by Wendell Roelf in Cape Town and MacDonald Dzirutwe in Harare; writing by Michael Georgy; editing by Tim Pearce)